Each day in the United States, 60 people receive an organ and live. However, another 17 people who are waiting for an organ run out of time and die.
According to Barry Marshall, Administrator of the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute and Cardiovascular Service Line, the number of organ donors cannot keep up with the increasing transplant demand.
"Each year the number of people on the transplant waiting list increases by about 10 percent, but the number of organ donations only increases by 4 percent," Marshall said. "The gap between the two gets wider every year."
Organ donation is a serious endeavor. In the United States, there are more than 92,000 men, women and children currently on the organ transplant waiting list.
Doctors perform around 20,000 organ transplants every year. However, this year, 6,000 people on the list will die while still waiting for an organ.
"In many cases it's a lack of being informed and fear that keeps a person from becoming an organ donor," Marshall said. "There just are not enough organs to go around, and educating people about donation is the key to closing the gap between the organ demand and donation rates."
Randa Kahn, manager of community outreach for the Midsouth Transplant Foundation, the organization that manages organ procurement and community education in the Memphis area, said many people's misconceptions and lack of education about organ donation greatly contribute to their decision not to be a donor.
"It's unbelievable how many silly, but common, myths and misconceptions there are about organ donation," Kahn said. "A lot of people think that their organs will be immediately taken if they are hurt or go into a coma.
"They don't understand that organs are only taken from donors who are brain dead."
According to Justin Griner, president of Tigers for Organ Donation, The University of Memphis student-run organ donation association, educating people as to what the myths and realities of organ donation are becomes key when trying to get them to register as a donor.
"Many college students don't think about becoming a donor because they don't like thinking about death, especially their own death," Griner said. "Many of them then use false excuses to reject the idea of organ donation.
"Lots of the people that we have talked to on campus think that if you are a donor, hospital and emergency room doctors are not going to try as hard to save you if you are hurt."
Kahn said many organ procurement organizations even encounter donation problems when the person in question is a registered donor.
Many people register to become organ donors, but never discuss it with their families. Since the family is given the final decision when their loved one's condition becomes irrecoverable, it is important for people to discuss their decision with their families while they are still healthy, Kahn said.
"The main thing people need to do is make an informed decision and talk it over with their family while everyone is healthy and well," he said.
According to Kahn, even just one person's decision to become an organ donor can save many lives.
"If you donate your eight vital organs and tissue, you can save the lives of 50 people," he said. "It can be a person's last and ultimate gesture of giving."
